The Secret Ingredients Rainer Wemcken on Why Daily Soaps Are Such a Hit with Audiences
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3 December 2009 week 49 The secret ingredients Rainer Wemcken on why daily soaps are such a hit with audiences Luxembourg France RTL Group presents carbon M6 is recognized for efforts in footprint diversity Germany France RTL Creation creates RTL Radio supports Christmas campaign the Restaurants du Coeur week 4 COVER: Rainer Wemcken, Managing Director of Grundy UFA 2 week 49 the RTL Group intranet “Long and easy – that is our goal” Grundy UFA has been producing series and daily soaps for over 17 years now, which makes them the leader in this sector. Backstage spoke with Rainer Wemcken about the secret to their success. Rainer Wemcken Germany - 3 December 2009 Whether it’s Lenny and Emily getting into their first knock-down, drag-out fight, Till being kept away from Wolfgang’s funeral, Celine developing feelings for Richard, Manu worrying about losing her job over a slap in the face, Sebastian making up with Lydia or Oliver instigating a quarrel between Alisa and Christian – the ‘think tank’ behind the plot twists is always the same. What began in 1992 with the perennial favourite Gute Zeiten – Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times) is now implemented in seven productions in Potsdam-Babelsberg, Cologne, Berlin and In September, the team of Barátok közt celebrated the production Budapest. Grundy UFA produces six daily of the 5,000th episode series for the German TV market – Verbotene Liebe (ARD), Alisa – Folge deinem Herzen (ZDF), Eine wie keine (Sat 1), Alles was zählt, Unter Uns, Gute Zeiten – Schlechte Zeiten (all three for RTL Television) and Barátok közt for RTL Klub in Hungary. Right now Grundy UFA has triple cause for celebration: on 4 December RTL Klub will broadcast the 5,000th episode of Barátok közt, while Unter Uns celbrated its 15th anniversary on 28 November and Verbotene Liebe aired its 3,500th episode in early November. This shows that the soaps are not only popular, but that their success is reliable and long-lived. “That is the art we’ve mastered,” says Rainer Wemcken, Managing Director of Grundy UFA in an interview with Backstage. “The longer a series runs, the easier it becomes to market – and that is our goal.” To achieve this, the series’ makers must take particular care to avoid lapsing into a routine. “Although we are essentially involved in industrial series Claudelle Deckert, Anna Julia Kapfelsperger und Isabell Hertel production here, creativity is demanded on a celebrating Unter uns’ 15th anniversary daily basis,” explains Wemcken. 3 week 49 the RTL Group intranet This is important for another reason as well. As a result, the soaps are always shifting and There are now ten daily series in the German TV changing – new topics are constantly being market alone. Most of them air during access discovered, new problems addressed. prime time, that means between 17:30 and Sometimes a cast member leaves the soap, or 20:15. “Naturally, there is a danger of a new person joins the cast, which opens up oversaturation,” explains Wemcken. “That’s new narrative options for the authors. In 1992, why we place such an emphasis on the various Gute Zeiten – Schlechte Zeiten launched with a particularities of our formats. Verbotene Liebe, large cast and an accordingly large number of for instance, is deliberately a bit unrealistic.” plot strands. “Nowadays we will usually focus on a single strong character at the beginning of Producing and preserving the uniqueness of all a series, like Manu Berlett in Eine wie keine or the different soaps over time requires not only Diana in Alles was zählt. The other characters a well thought-out plan, but also a highly and the plot are then developed over time,” motivated team and smoothly functioning says Wemcken. logistics – and Grundy UFA has all but perfected the process of industrial series The nearly 18-year history of daily soaps in production. “Of course there is no secret Germany is evident in the evolution of the formula that tells you exactly how everything narrative structure, but also in changes that works,” jokes Wemcken. “We’re not a beverage have occurred in production over recent years. factory, where you have a specific recipe that Production timing is still very tight – every day, spells out how it’s done.” Each soap has its at least one new episode has to be completed very own style, a recurrent theme and its own for each of the seven series. New technology way of telling the characters’ stories. “The most standards in particular have opened up greater important thing is to use the characters to tell creative freedom. HD technology gives the stories that interest people while also exploring footage a more cinematic overall look and it problems that preoccupy people,” Wemcken has also greatly simplified post-processing. explains. “To do so you have to stay close to “This means that we are producing even faster your target audience, pick up on trends and now than we used to,” reports Rainer even set trends yourself sometimes.” Wemcken. “For Unter Uns, we now produce eight episodes a week instead of just five as in the past.” The entire production process for an episode – from the initial idea to the day it is aired – takes about three months on average. First, a larger plot spanning several months is determined. This overarching plot is then broken down into weekly strands and then into daily episodes, after which it is shot. Finally, these plot strands are cut apart, combined with other and edited into an episode. “That is precisely what distinguishes us, apart from the shooting itself – the industrial standards we bring to production,” says Wemcken. Also, he explains, there is now more of an emphasis on better care and training for the cast members. “We now have a lot more coaches than ten years ago.” Shooting of Verbotene Liebe 4 week 49 the RTL Group intranet And soaps are now at home in the online realm company produces for the German social as well. “Daily soaps are among the most networks StudiVZ and MeinVZ, is one of requested formats on the broadcasters’ various Germany’s most popular Web series, catch-up and video-on-demand sites,” generating over three million video views to Wemcken is happy to report. “On RTL Now for date. The series has even been nominated for a instance, users can preview the upcoming Digital Emmy. “Given the Pietshow’s success, episode for a small fee – and plenty of people we are obviously entertaining some ambitions actually do so.” Grundy UFA also develops in this area. But you always need a partner for Web series that are not exactly like soaps but the financing, too,” says Wemcken. “But we do have similarities. The Pietshow, which the have nothing new planned at the moment.” Grundy UFA in Figures (as of 1 December 2009) Gute Zeiten – Schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times; RTL Television) Launched: 1992 Number of episodes: 4380 Average audience share (14 to 49 – Oct 2009): 21.0 per cent Unter Uns (RTL Television) Launched: 1994 Number of episodes: 3729 Average audience share (14 to 49 – Oct 2009): 16.6 per cent Verbotene Liebe (ARD) Launch: 1995 Number of episodes: 3516 Average audience share (total audience – Oct 2009): 11.8 per cent Alles was zählt (RTL Television) Launch: 2006 Number of episodes: 817 Average audience share (14 to 49 – Oct 2009): 16.2 per cent Alisa - Folge deinem Herzen (ZDF) Launch: 2009 Number of episodes: 183 Average audience share (total audience – Oct 2009): 15.1 per cent Eine wie keine (Sat.1) Launch: 2009 Number of episodes: 12 Average audience share: Not available, yet. Barátok Közt (RTL Klub) Launch: 1998 Number of episodes: 4994 Average audience share (18 to 49 – Oct 2009): 40.4 per cent. 5 Urgent need for action This Saturday, RTL-TVI will broadcast, in prime time, Al Gore’s award-winning documentary film An Inconvenient Truth - probably one of the best ways to raise awareness for the importance of the upcoming Copenhagen Summit on climate change. week 49 the RTL Group intranet Presenting the carbon footprint RTL Group employees in Luxembourg got together to learn more about our organisation’s carbon footprint and to discuss measures to reduce CO2 emissions linked to our activity. Luxembourg - 2 December 2009 In a year where facts matter, and bearing in mind that “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something,” the second edition of RTL Group’s ‘environMINDday’ mainly centred on a presentation of the results of the carbon footprint measurement project initiated and conducted by Dr. Achim Schorb, from the IFEU in Heidelberg, Marco Schank Deputy Minister of Sustainable the environMIND Development in Luxembourg and Elmar Heggen, RTL Group CFO and Head of the Corporate Centre team starting in April (from left to right) 2008. This project was born out of growing GHG emissions are always related to the interest expressed by many of RTL Group’s company’s core operations. This is especially subsidiaries and was first conducted here in true for RTL Group. As a service provider and a Luxembourg before being rolled out to the rest broadcaster, energy consumption is by far the of the Group. largest proportion of GHG emissions. Power consumption is in direct relation with Establishing a carbon footprint is a very broadcasting operations and server demands. complex process since it relates to the total of The footprint is influenced by our day-to-day all greenhouse gases (GHG) produced in a activities but also by the size (9,191 employees) company’s day-to-day operations. For this in and profile of our workforce.